MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Health Department is trying to calm fears and educate the public about the Ebola virus.
This comes after the first case of Ebola showed up in the United States. Thomas Ducan passed away in Wednesday in Dallas.
The health department said it wanted to make sure the public is getting the right information about the deadly disease.
Tuesday, it released a fact sheet of commonly asked questions about Ebola and has sent out letters to some 3,000 licensed physicians in the area with travel questions to ask any patients with symptoms of the virus.
“Just last week we had a full-scale exercise with every hospital in Shelby County and the surrounding area and it was based on a pandemic, ironically,” Kasia Alexander, manager of the Public Emergency Preparedness Program, said.
Wednesday, health department officials also wanted the public to know they are ready to track any cases that emerge and control the outbreak as much as possible.
“Hospitals train every single day on infection control. they are now training and learning and teaching bout Ebola. believe people will learn from the experiences in Dallas,” Shelby County Health Department Director Yvonne Madlock said.
The health department says as scary as Ebola is, the flu is more deadly, claiming more than 36,000 lives every year in the U.S. alone.
So far, less than 8,000 have died worldwide from Ebola.